Disclosure context

About play

**Overview:** Play (also known as PlayCrypt) is a financially motivated ransomware group that emerged in late 2022, conducting targeted attacks against organizations across multiple sectors with a focus on financial extortion. **Origin & Affiliation:** The group's country of origin remains unclear based on public reporting, though they appear to operate independently rather than as a traditional ransomware-as-a-service model. **Attack Methodology:** Play ransomware operators typically gain initial access through compromised Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) credentials and exploit valid accounts, then move laterally through networks using tools like Cobalt Strike before deploying their custom ransomware payload. The group employs double extortion tactics, stealing sensitive data before encryption and threatening to publish it on their leak site if ransom demands are not met. **Notable Campaigns:** According to CISA advisories, Play has targeted over 300 entities globally since its emergence, with significant impacts on critical infrastructure sectors including healthcare, education, and government services, though specific ransom amounts and individual victim details vary in public reporting. **Current Status:** Play remains an active threat as of 2024, continuing to target organizations primarily in North America and Europe according to ongoing security researcher observations and law enforcement warnings. The group has been linked to 1,276 public disclosures across our corpus. First observed on a leak site on November 26, 2022; most recent post May 20, 2026. The operation is currently active.

Also tracked as: PlayCrypt.

Timeline of this disclosure

April 4, 2026Barnes Solicitors LLP listed by playon the group's public leak site

Sector and geography

This disclosure adds to ransomware activity in the Business Services sector, which has 2,640 disclosures indexed across all operators we track. Geographically, Barnes Solicitors LLP is reported in GB, a country with 309 ransomware disclosures in our corpus.

How we know this. Darkfield monitors public ransomware leak sites continuously, archiving every new disclosure and the data later released against the victim. Each entry on this page is sourced from the operator's own publication and cross-checked against complementary OSINT feeds (RansomLook, ransomware.live, RansomWatch). We do not collect or host stolen data — only the metadata, timestamps and screenshots needed to make the public disclosure searchable and accountable. Records here are corrected when the original post is edited, retracted, or merged with another disclosure.

Ransomware victim disclosure

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Barnes Solicitors LLP

Claimed by play · listed 2 months ago

46d

Age

since listed · data leaked

Status timeline

Listed
Apr 4, 2026
Data leaked

At a glance

Group: play
Status: Data leaked
Country: GB
Sector: Business Services
Listed on leak site: Apr 4, 2026

About the victim

AI dossier — public-source company profile

Barnes Solicitors LLP is a London-based law firm founded in 2020, located on Albert Embankment, Vauxhall. The firm specialises in commercial and civil litigation, housing disrepair tenant representation, Environmental Protection Act prosecutions, and residential and commercial conveyancing. It operates on a significant conditional fee ('no win no fee') basis and is noted as having one of the largest tenant-representative housing disrepair departments in London.

Industry: Legal Services – Civil & Commercial Litigation
Address: 9 Albert Embankment, Vauxhall, London, SE1 7SP
Founded: 2020

Attack summary

Severity: critical — A law firm holds highly sensitive regulated data including privileged legal correspondence, client PII, financial records, and case files. Data_published status confirms exfiltration and public release, constituting a confirmed breach of legally privileged and regulated personal data at scale, likely engaging UK GDPR and Solicitors Regulation Authority obligations.

The Play ransomware group lists Barnes Solicitors LLP with a disclosed status of 'data_published', indicating that data exfiltrated from the firm has been published on their leak site. No ransom amount or specific data volume was stated in the post.

critical

Data the group says was taken

AI dossier — extracted from the leak post

Client legal files
Personally identifiable information (PII) of clients
Conditional fee agreement documentation
Litigation case records
Conveyancing transaction records
Internal firm communications
Financial records

What the group claims

United Kingdom

The leak post

captured from the group's site

| Play ransomware HAS NEVER PROVIDED AND DOES NOT PROVIDE THE RaaS, read the FAQ page.WE NEVER WRITES FIRST, IF SOMEONE WRITES TO YOU, THEY ARE SCAMMERS.we'll buy your access: 75tkvxemb6zpyk3fbl3mwm32jklc2sdjacb3kazrioamopbfn2w2z5qd.onionIf we have not responded to you by email within 12 hours, please leave your contact information on the website in the contact tab. |  
| --- |  
| EMA Engineering & Consulting👁️ views: 321added: 2026-05-07publication date: 2026-05-11   | Accessoires Outillage Ltee👁️ views: 280added: 2026-05-07publication date: 2026-05-11   | K & E Distributing👁️ views: 282added: 2026-05-07publication date: 2026-05-11   |  
| Sokolin👁️ views: 7261   | Barnes Solicitors LLP👁️ views: 7182   | Witt UK Group👁️ views: 8181   |  
| Valley Plating Inc👁️ views: 8198   | Dock Pros👁️ views: 8179   | Kivells👁️ views: 8150   |  
| Specflue👁️ views: 8137   | Weber Kracht & Chellew👁️ views: 8180   | Lucky Look👁️ views: 8285   |

Sources

Source

Indexed 2 months ago

This page surfaces a public ransomware disclosure indexed by Darkfield. Original posts come from the operator's own leak site; we cross-check against ransomware.live, RansomLook and RansomWatch where applicable. Share this URL freely.